Ston Easton Park, a famous Country House Hotel in Somerset, will undergo an extensive restoration programme this year to return its 18th century parkland to its former glory as the famous ‘Repton’ landscape – and is appealing for the help of volunteers to contribute to this great historical challenge.
Ston Easton Park is appealing for both amateur and professional historians and horticulturists alike to take part in its ‘Lost Garden’ restoration challenge, providing enthusiasts with a chance to work on one of the most unique gardens in the UK and the only remaining Repton landscape in Somerset.
Ston Easton Park holds a fascinating history, with the estate surrounding the house having been designed by famous landscape architect, Humphry Repton. Using the Repton ‘Red Book’ – a facsimile documenting Repton’s ‘before’ and ‘after’ plans illustrated in beautiful watercolours – as a guide, Head Gardeners, Steve Hargreaves and Dale Toten will lead the renovation to unearth and restore the lost grotto, paths and bridge in Ston Easton Park’s historic grounds.
Steve Hargreaves, Head Gardener at Ston Easton Park, said:
“This is an extremely exciting project for us and we are very keen to put our extensive Repton research into practice in 2017. We are always on the lookout for enthusiastic volunteers but this project in particular will take huge amounts of effort and several years for it to reach its full potential – but it will certainly be worth it.”
Humphry Repton was a pupil and worthy successor of Capability Brown, the famous landscape gardener who designed gardens for royalty and the upper classes. Like Brown, Repton saw gardening as an art form, using the landscape as his canvas to enhance natural beauty with art. Repton’s landscape gardening skills, developed by Brown, introduced terracing and gravel walks with separate flowerbeds and gardens. Highly prestigious and fashionable, Repton’s designs were intricate, eclectic yet always in keeping with nature.
Ston Easton Park’s 36 acres of parkland today includes a Victorian Kitchen Garden, which still supplies the house with almost 60% of its fresh produce. All of the floral displays throughout the country house are also created using freshly cut flowers from the grounds.
To take part in Ston Easton Park’s Lost Garden restoration programme please contact the hotel reception on 01761 241631.
For more information about Ston Easton Park please visit www.stoneaston.co.uk
